243 
y 1 



C 243 
C3 
opy 1 



ngerous Donations 

"^ AND 

Degrading Do 



OR 




A Vast Scheme for Capturing and 

Controlling the Colleges and 

Universities of the 

Country 



BY 

Bishop Warren A. Candler of the 
Methodist Episcopal Church South. 



"Surely in vain the net is spread in the sight 
of any bird "Proverbs i:l7. 



V 

A Prefatory Word 



The articles which compose this pamphlet 
were prepared for i>ublication in the Atlanta 
Journal and the tirst two were printed in its 
columns. 

The editor of the Jonnial withheld the last 
two from publication out of a consideration 
of courtesy to the meeting of the -Conference 
for Bducation in the South'" in the City of 
Atlanta, explaining to the writer that he 
agreed with the position of the writer on the 
general subject and Avould print the two pa- 
pers after the '-Conference" adjourn?d. As is 
evident on the face of the articles they are 
entirely courteous, and it does not appear that 
the "Conference" should be exempted from 
courteous criticism because of the place at 
which it happens to meet this year, especial, 
ly when it is remembered that the articles 
were ])repared 1)efore t'ae Avriter of them 
knew where or when its session would be held, 
and that he had no part in inviting) the body 
to meet in Atlanta. "The Conference" bears 
but a secondary and tributaiy relation to the 
•'General Board of Education," and the em- 
phasis of these papers does not fall on it. It 
can not. however, escape entirely criticism of 
the "General Board of Education" which was 
originated in the "Conference," and which in 
turn makes appropriations to the "Conference," 
3 



and it is entitled to no exemption from crit- 
icism while it is tlius inseparably related to 
the "General Education Board." 

And besides all this, when a great danger 
threatens the country there is no time for 
standing on mere ceremony. It is time to 
cause the people to understand the peril 
which menaces their institutions of learning 
and their civilization. 

To the four papers which were prepared for 
the Journal are appended an article from the 
New Orleans ''Times-Democrat," and an extract 
from an article from the "Maniofcvcturer's 
Record,'' of Baltimore, which will serve to 
confirm the conclusions reached hy the writ- 
er and to show that other sober-minded men 
view with alarm the situation which confronts 
us. I add also extracts from the columns of 
the New York Journal of Commerce and 
l<pringficld Republican, of weighty import. 

It is hoped that this discussion may con- 
tribute in some measure to arousing our peo- 
ple to action in time to save our colleges' and 
universities from :being captured and con- 
troled by alien authorities, and to save them 
also from being crushed for lack of adequate 
support and endowment. Our institutions or 
higher learning must be free from domination 
from without, and they must be made strong 
enough to maintain their freedom and do their 
work well. 

W. A. CANDLER. 
Atlanta. Ga., April 2nd, 1909. 



THE POWER OF OUR COLLEGES AND A 
PERIL WHICH THREATENS THEM. 

It is to be feared that the most of our 
people do not justly estimate the influence and 
value of our institutions of higher learning. 
In thi.s statement reference is not intended to 
our negligence in properly equipping and ad- 
equately endowing our colleges and universi- 
ties, although there is much in that direction 
deserving of censure. 

Our people do not seem to understand the 
effect of an educational institution on the 
general welfare of the community whom it 
serves. It work is done so silently, gradually, 
and invisibly, while railroads, hanks, facto- 
ries and the like, are so bulky and tangible, 
that most men among us regard with compar- 
ative indifference a school of higher learning. 
Nevertheless that which they esteem so lightly 
'may be doing a work which will seriously 
affect for good or ill every commercial enter- 
prise in the land, not to speak of the interests 
of higher value than material things. 

The nations of Europe understand all this 
better than do our people. They have exper- 
imented with educational institutions for 
centuries, and they know what comes of such 
influential plants. 

When England wished to insure her domin- 
ion in Normandy she founded the University 
of Caen in 1436, and achieved by it vastly 
more than it cost her. 
5 



When Spain desired to consolidate the 
Netherlands she established the Universiiy o; 
Douay in 1572, and with it she achieved re- 
sults that still abide notwithstanding all the 
political changes and social mutations which 
have come to pass in the course of more than 
three centuries. 

After the toattle of Jena, Germany set about 
healing the political bruises and military 
wounds inflicted upon her in that disastrous 
defeat by founding the University of Berlin 
in 1810. M. Efnest Lavisse has related most 
interestingly the story of its foundation. He 
says the King of Prussia, Frederick William, 
declared as the reason for its establishment, 
"it is necessary that the State supply by its 
intellectual forces the physicial poiwers which 
it has lost." The great Schleirmacher support, 
ed the project enthusiastically and most clearly 
forecast its future. He said, "When that sci- 
entific organization is founded, it will have 
no equal; thanks to its interior force, it will 
exercise its benevolent rule to the borders of 
the Prussian monarchy. Berlin will become 
the center of the entire intellectual activity or 
Northern and Protestant Germany, and a 
solid foundation will be prepared for the ac- 
oomplishment of the mission assigned to tjie 
Prussian government." His words were mos: 
accurately fulfilled. The University of Bei- 
lin more than any other one thing united and 
invigorated the new Germany with which 
Napoleon III had to settle in 1870. 



Think of the proposition! To elevate the 
Kingdom of Prussia and unify the German 
Empire by establishing a school! Our "prac- 
tical men" would laugh at such an idea: but 
the more practical German au4iorities knew 
what they were doing. The event has jusU- 
tied the wisdom of their far-sighted proi>osal. 
Berlin has become the scientitic and political 
center of the German people. With its great 
University it is the very heait of the nation's 
life, and its influence is felt throughout the 
world. O^ir own educational institutions have 
not escaped the influence of the University of 
Berlin. 

Again after the overwhelming defeat of 
Napoleon III in 1870 by the unified and reno- 
vated German nation, Bismarck undertook the 
Germanizing of Alsace-Lorraine by completely 
reconstructing the Univsrsity of Strasbourg. 

We .thus see that both to retrieve a defeat 
and to confirm a victory long-headed Germany 
established a new educa'.ional plant. And in 
both instances she has not been disappointed 
in the outcome. 

When the great Liberal party in Belgium 
in 1834 sought to battle successfully with its 
foes, who were operating so aggressively 
through the Universities of Liege and Gand 
(or Ghent, as the city is called in English), 
it founded the University of Brussels. 

Oxford Univer.^ity has been the breeding 
ground of Tories and Toryi.'^m for generations, 
and the Whigs in 1828 set up the University 



of London with the purpose of offsetting if 
possible the political influence of Oxford. 

In our own country a history was enacted 
towards the close of the eighteenth centuiT 
which emphasizes in a striking manner the 
power of the colleges. The institutions of 
learning then existing in the young Republic 
were few and comparatively feeble; but becom- 
ing infected with infidelity they threatened 
the .religious life of the whole country. Bishop 
Meade, of Virginia, declared with reference to 
their effects, "I 'Can truly say that then, and 
for some years after, in every educated young 
man in Virginia whom I met I expected to 
find a skeptic, if not an avowed unbeliever." 
He affirmed that the College of William and 
Mary, which had been founded in religious 
motives and for Christian ends as its first 
charter showed, had become "the hot bed 0° 
French politics and infidelity." Yale College 
had succum'bed to the same evil influence, and 
when in 1795 the great Timothy Dwight came 
to the presidency of the institution he found 
it in the most wretched condition as to both 
faith and morals. Dr. Lyman Beecher who 
entered the college as a student about that 
time said it "was in a most ungodly state." 
and he adds, "most of the class before me 
were infidels, and called each other Voltaire. 
Rousseau, D'Alemliert, etc." Our nation can 
never pay the debt it owes to Dr. Dwight for 
the warfare he waged against infidelity in 
Yale College during all the years of his pres- 

S 



idency. He drove it from Yale and his sav- 
ing influence extended to otlier institutions. 
He might be called in some sense the saviour 
of his country in that perilous hour. The 
poorer Yale of Dr. Dwight's day did more for 
the country than does the richer Yale of to 
day. 

Washington also in his "Farewell Address'" 
lamented the moral conditions whicIT he saw 
around him, and he warned his countrymen 
against the dangers of irreligion and infidel- 
ity. Manifestly he was aiming his words at 
current conditions, then so threatening to all 
that was good, when he said, "Of all the dis- 
positions and habits which lead to political 
prosperity, religion and morality are indls- 
pensible supports. In vain would that man 
olaim the tribute of patriotism who would la- 
bor to subvert these greatest pillars of hu- 
man happiness, these firmest props of the du- 
ties of men and citizens. The mere politi- 
cian, equally with the pious man, ought to 
respect and to cherish them. A volume coula 
not trace all their connections with both pri- 
vate and public felicity. Let it be simply 
asked, where is the security for property, for 
reputation, for life, if the sense of religious 
obligation desert the oaths, which are the in- 
struments of investigation in our courts or 
justice? And let us with caution indulge the 
supposition that morality can be maintainea 
Avithout religion. Whatever may be conceded 
to the influence of refined education on minds 
9 



I 



of peculiar structure, reason and experience 
iboth forbid us to expect that national moral- 
ity can prevail in exclusion of religious li'b- 
erty." 

It is not surprising that tlie Father of his 
country was alarmed. Some of the most con- 
spicuous leaders of the political thought of 
that period were most aggressive in their op- 
position to all things a-eligious. General 
Dearborn, who was the Secretary of War in 
the administration of President Jefferson, on 
one occasion in alluding to the churches said, 
"So long as these temples stand, we can not 
hope for order and good government." Wash- 
ington in his "Farewell Address' traversed 
. with purpose and emphasis such vicious sen- 
timents because he saw the need of sounding 
a note of alarm. 

The General Assembly of the Presbyterian 
Church in 1798 bemoaned the situation in 
these words : "We perceive with pain and 
fearful apprehension a general dereliction of 
religious principles and practice among our 
fellow-citizens, a visible and prevailing im- 
piety and contempt for the laws and institu- 
tions of religion, and an abounding infidelity, 
which in many instances tends to atheism 
itself. The profligacy and corruption of the 
public morals have advanced with a progress 
proportionate to our declension in religion. 
'Profaneness, pride, luxury, injustice, intem- 
perance, lewdness and every species of de- 



10 



baiu-hery and lnose iiululgence greatly 
abound." 

Behold to what length the evil leavQn which 
was working among the educated classes op- 
erated to the corruption of private and public 
morals among all classes! It affected the 
whole life of tlie nation and threatened even 
the stability of all its social and political 
institutions. 

I have dwelt at length upon the effect or 
educatonal institutions in order that I might 
warn our people against a powerful effort 
which certain very astute men, backed by mil- 
lions of money, are now making to capture 
and control our colleges and universities. 
While we sleep they work. 

An educational trust has been formed, and 
it is operating to control the institutions of 
higher learning in the United States, and to 
dominate especially the colleges and univer- 
sities of the South. 

When the war was over General Lee ex- 
horted the troops to go home and cultivate 
the virtues of their ancestors. It is the last 
privilege of a conquered people to cultivate 
their own peculiar excellencies and gifts. 

Our people have risen up out of the deso- 
lation of war and the greater desolatioi or 
reconstruction, and by sheer strength of man- 
hood they have recovered their fallen for- 
tunes, made the waste places to bloom again, 
and wrought out on the old foundations a 
splendid structure of civilization. For many 

W 



years they have been lectured by their con- 
querors in season and out of season. They 
have been given any amount of advice il 
nothing else. But now at last the effort to 
manage them takes a new direction. It is 
proposed to change their political thinking, 
religious beliefs, and social organization by a 
scheme to dominate their colleges and univer- 
sities. I can not in this paper go into de- 
tails, but must reserve all that for my next] 
communication and subsequent articles. 

In the meantime I close this letter by say- 
ing, "Let us beware of the Greeks when they 
bring gifts." 

SEEKING TO CAPTURE AND CONTROL 
THE COLLEGES OF THE COUNTRY. 

In my last article it was suggested th£ 
certain astute men, backed by millions o| 
money, were making an effort to capture an^ 
control the colleges and universities of the' 
country, especially the institutions of the 
South. The movement to which reference is 
intended is what is called "The General Edu- 
cation Board," and certain contcomitant oi'- 
ganizations. — ^chiefiy, however. "The General 
LIducation Board." 

This Board was incorporated by an act of 
the Congress of the United States approved 
January 12, 1903, and endowed by Mr. John 
Rockefeller, Sr. Its endowment was increased 
to about $43,0OO,0'O0 by the gift of .$32,0'5o,{)00 
on February 5, 1907. "one-third to be added 
12 



to the permanent endowment of the Board, 
two-thirds to be applied to sucn specific ob- 
jects within the corporate purposes of tlie 
Board" as might be directed by Mr. Rodvefel- 
ler or his son from time to time. Previouoiv 
he had given $1,000,000 on March 1st, 1902, 
and $10,000,000 on October 1st, 1905. 

The charter of the "General Education 
Board" gives it very extensive powers, as is 
indicated in these words : "The said corpor- 
ation shall have power to build, improve, e.i 
large, or equip, or to aid others to build, im- 
prove, enlarge or equip, buildings for elemeii 
tary or primary schools, industrial schools, 
technical schools, normal schools, training 
schools for teachers, or schools of any grade, 
or for higher institutions of learning, or, in 
connection therewith, libraries, workshops, 
gardens, kitchens, or other educational acces- 
sories; to establish, maintain, or endow, or aid 
others to establish, maintain, or endow, ele- 
mentary or primary schools, industrial schools, 
technical schools, normal schools, training 
schools for teachers, or schools of any grade, 
or higher institutions of learning ; to emplo.v 
or aid others to employ teachei-s and lectur- 
ers; to aid, co-operate with, or endow asso- 
ciations or other corporations engaged in ed- 
ucational work within the United States of 
America, or to donate to any such association 
or corporation any property or moneys which 
shall at any time be held by the said corpora- 
tion hereby constituted; to collect educational 

13 



statistics and information, and to publish and 
distribute documents and reports containing 
tlie same, and in general to do and perform 
all things necessary and convenient for the 
promotion of the oibjeet of the corporation." 

It will be noted that this Board is author- 
ized to do almost every conceivable thing 
which is in any wise related to education, from 
opening a kitchen to establishing a university, 
and its power to connect itself with the work 
of every sort of educational plant or entei- 
prise conceivable will be especially observed. 
This power to project its influence over other 
corporations is at once the greatest and mosc 
dangerous power it lias. 

The stupendous scheme is one to enthrall 
the imagination. Its large powers and im- 
mense endowment when proclaimed to tht: 
public impressed many with the idea that it 
v.as the harbinger of an educational millen- 
nium. It seemed to promise all manner of 
good without any admixture of evil. Very 
naturally, therefore, good men in every part 
of the country looked with favor upon it. 
The authorities of strugglihg colleges saw In 
it relief for the institutions for 'which they 
were giving their lives. Trustees and faculties 
watched its coming as they who wait for the 
morning. The friends of education every- 
where, and especially in the South, gave It 
warm welcome and cordial approval. These 
all, and others, are not to be blamed that they 
had no suspicions of the "General Education 

14 



I 



4 



Board," for its promises on the surface 
seemed fair and its proposals generous. 

It was not strange that many applications 
for aid came very quickly to the Board from 
all sorts of schools. There was nothing on 
the surface to provoke distrust or to suggest 
ulterior purposes. Even now multitudes see 
nothing to give rise to fear, and some may 
think that I am needlessly alarmed. It is 
perhaps true that some members of the Hoard 
itself do not yet pereeive what some others 
in the huge corporation really intend, and even 
those members of the Board who are. most 
resolute and definite in the purpose to cap- 
ture and control the colleges of the country 
doubtless persuade themselves that their pur- 
pose is entirely wise, pure, iind patriotic. If 
they mean to dominate the institutions upon 
which they bestow their donations, they 
doubtless applaud their plans as a scheme o.' 
"benevolent assimilation." 

But it is not safe for the educational inst:- 
lions of the country to be under the virtual 
dominion of fifteen men, however pure they 
may imagine their intentions to be, even 
though their purposes may be as pure in fact 
as they themselves fancy. It is not. a question 
of inotives, but a question of whether it is^ 
good for the country to have its educatioaal 
work determined by a Board of fifteen men, 
responsible to no authority civil or ecclesiab- 
tical in the land. On this question my mind 
is perfectly clear; such a centralized edu- 

15 



cational system is perilous in the extreme, li 
is sucli a concentration of power in the mat- 
ter of the highest interests of the nation as 
no fifteen men, however wise and virtuous, 
can be trusted to exercise without abusing it 
to the furtherance of their own views and in- 
terests and to the injury of those wlio do not 
agree with them in interest or opinion. 

There is evidence at hand already that 
some person, or persons, connected with this 
Board are conscious of the power in the 
Board's hands, and that they have very defi- 
nite if not worthy, ends in view. To draw 
attention to that evidence this paper is print- 
ed. 

I give first two extracts from the columns 
of two leading daily papers published in New 
Yorlc, extracts which are so nearly identicai 
in language as to leave no room to doubt that 
they were written for those, papers by some 
one person who was intimately acquainted 
with the inmost purposes of the most inner 
circle of the "Greneral Education Board." 

Shortly after Mr. Rockefeller's last gift of 
?32,0'0'0,000 the New York Tribune said: 

"No gift from this great fund is Intended to be 
given to State educational institutions. Wliile cer- 
tain colleges will be selected for contributions *or 
endowments, forming a chain of educational insti- 
tutions across the continent, others not so favoured 
will be left to their fate by the Rockefeller Fund, 
and many of them, it is expected, will be forced to 
close their doors in the face of such strong support 
to their fortunate rivals. It will become a question 
of the survival of the fittest, it is said, from which 

16 



it is l)t"lieve(l a better and liislior staiulartl of oflu- 
cation will result, and on the maps of the Williams 
street office of the Rockefeller Fund the little col- 
oured pins will probably seal the fate of many a 
college and work out the destiny of other to pros- 
perous ends." 

The New York Evening World said : 
"No gift from this great" fund is intended to be 
given to State educational institutions. While cer- 
tain colleges will be selected for donations or en- 
dowments, forming a chain across the continent, 
others not so favored will be left to their fate, as 
it were, and many of them will be, it is expected, 
forced to close their doors in the face of such strong 
support of their fortunate rivals." 

Can any one doubt that these two extracts 
were written by the same hand and that the 
hand which wrote them was the hand of some 
one perfectly acquainted with the ultimate 
ends of Mr. Rockefeller amd his Board How 
thoughtful was the writer in that he put 
forth the matter in the leading Republican 
pai>er and the leading Democratic paper of 
the metropolis. He msant that men of all 
parties should see and^ understand it. And 
mark what is proposed by this writer. 

(1) There is to be "a chain" of Board- 
supported colleges stretching "across the con- 
tinent." (2) That these Board-supported col- 
leges will force others to close their doors. 
In other words the ' General Education Board" 
prdposes to both kill and make alive, to make 
and unmake colleges at will. 

'Is any man so simple as not to see that the 
Board will be able to influence the character 
of the instruction given in the Board-fed instl- 

17 



tutions? Is it not clear that it will have col- 
leges to its own notion, teaching what it di- 
rects both as to the matter and manner of in- 
structi'on ? 

And as to the rest of the colleges it is expect, 
ed the "little coloured pins on the maps in the 
office of the Rockefeller Fluid will probably 
seal their fate," and that they will be "forceo 
to close their doors." 

That this is no strained view of what is 
proposed and expected, will appear from the. 
following extract from the Outlook Dr. Lj-- 
man Abbott's periodical, — a magazine which 
would not mistake the object of the Rockefeller 
Fund nor write of its purposes and plans lii 
any unfriendly way. The Outlook said : 

With this financial power in its control, the gen- 
eral board is in position to do what no body in this 
country can at present, even attempt. It can deter- 
mine largely what institutions shall grow, and in 
some measure what shall stand still or decay. It 
can look over the territory of the nation, note the 
places where there is .a famine of learning, and 
start new educational plants of any species it 
chooses, or revive old ones. It can do in many ways 
what the government does for education in France 
and Germany. Its power will be enormous : it seems 
as if it might be able to determine the character of 
American education. The funds it holds represent 
only a fraction of the amounts which it will control : 
by giving a sum to an institution on condition that 
the institution raise an equal or gi-eater amount, it 
will be able to direct much larger amounts than it 



Now note two things in this passage from 
the columns of the Outlook 

(1) This Board may be able to "determine 

IS 



the character of American education," that is, 
it may be able to do in out country what the 
government does in France or Germany, but 
•without the government's responsibility to the 
people. Could anything be more dangerous? 

(2) This Board will be able to control 
not only the millions of Mr. Rockefeller's gift, 
but the greater millions which others have 
given, or others may give, to the institutions 
which seek and obtain its aid. What an enor- 
mous power for fifteen men to wield over a 
nation ! ilt is startling #to think of it ! It Ij 
alarming! 

That it may be clear how this Board pro- 
])Oses to control the colleges which it seems 
to aid, and to control the funds which such, 
institutions may obtain in the future from 
others, I give the conditions whicli were out- 
lined for acceptance by a Southern intsitutioa 
to which the "Greneral Education Board" pro- 
posed to give $37,500 if that institution would 
raise $lli2,5'00, and thereby increase its en- 
dowment to $150,000. The conditions as out- 
lined by an executive officer of the Board 
were as follows: 

"F'irst. That the amount so contributed by this 
r>oard, together with the supplemental sum of one 
hundred and twelve thousand five hundred dollars 
($112,500), aforesaid, will be safely invested and for- 
ever preserved inviolably as endowment for the said 
College, the income only to be. available for its uses. 

"Second. That no part of the income from the 
fund so contributed by thi.s Board shall ever be 
used for specifically theological instruction. 

"Third. That in case the said College shall ever 

19 



divert any part of the endowment funds which it 
now has or which it may hereafter acquire, then 
and in that case the said sum which shall have been 
so contributed by this Board, pursuant to the terms 
of this pledge, shall at the option of this Board re- 
vert to it. 

"Fourth. That the accredited represenative of 
this Board shall at all reasonable times have . the 
right to inspect the books, accounts and securities 
of said College. 

Fifth. That the sum so contriibuted by this 
Board shall be forever held as a separate fund and 
be separately invested, so that its identity shall be 
at all times preserved, and that this Board shall for- 
ever haVe and retain a specific lien on said fund 
and on the securities in which it shall from time to 
time be invested, as security for the faithful observ- 
ance by the College of the terms of this agree- 
ment." 

Here are rights of inspection and power of 
control demanded which no self-respecting in- 
stitution should consent for one moment to 
submit to. The Boai-d's little wad of the piti- 
ful sum of $32,500 is expected to draw after 
it all the endowment which the college has or 
may hereafter acQuire. It is set up as <the 
prime fund, and the larger amount of $112,- 
&00 given by others is only "a supplemental 
sum!" In order that the Board may preserve 
a handle by which to swing the institution a& 
it may wish, its little conditional gift is to be 
"held as a separate fund and be separately 
invested, so that its identity shall at all times 
be preserved." 

With what threats of litigation or with what 
threats of the withdrawal of funds, might not 
this Board control under one pretext or an- 



20 



other the whoje management and policy of 
such a college! 

How must self-respecting trustees feel who 
from year to year should be forced to look up 
to this coterie of fifteen men, asking leave of 
this little Board with reference to investments 
and everything else about the college with 
which the fifteen men might choose to med- 
dle Such methods must pauperize every one 
connected with such a Board-fed and Boara- 
controlled college, from the wisest member 
of the board of trustees to the most callow 
freshman. 

Now, it may be said with reference to all 
this that Mr. Rockefeller, or the Bog^rd which 
represents him, has the right to determine 
what he will do with his own, and to fix the 
conditions upon which a part of what he owns 
will be given to others, (if indeed we may 
call these doles to hungry colleges gifts at 
all). No one will deny this right. It ir 
equally true that the people, or any part of 
the people, have a right to say what sort of 
educational institutions they will support and 
countenance. Of course, if a college seeks and 
obtains these gratuities, with the Rockefeller 
strings to them, it must consent to be guided 
by the rein with which these fifteen men will 
drive it. But may we not have enough peo- 
ple left who will say, we want institutions 
freer than the Board-fed kind can be; and we 
mean to have them, and to put them w^her* 
the Board's "chain of colleges across the con- 
21 



tinent" can not in any wise overcome ttiem 
or make them afraid May we not have some 
institutions whose doors can not be closed by 
"the little coloured pins" in the office of the 
Rockefeller Fund in New York? 

Our colleges must be something more than 
ttiB caged birds of the "General Education 
Board," fed by its hand and made to sing at 
its bidding, American education can not be 
safely entrusted to fifteen men without any 
responsibility to the people whose education 
they assume to supervise. 

It should be added that the Board does not 
leave State institutions as severely alone as 
might be inferred from its purposes as ex- 
pressed at first and as stated in the extracts 
quoted above from the columns of the New 
York Tribune and the New 'York Evening 
World. 

It now undertakes to suport professors of 
secondary education in State Universities, 
and to maintain some sort of demonstration 
farms and a system of agricultural lecturing 
of a somewhat spectacular sort in the South- 
ern states. It thus undertakes to lay its hand 
on the high schools and to get hold of the 
farmers. 

Something of the spirit and purpose of the 
Board concerning the latter work among the 
farmers may be gathered from the following 
utterance which is said to have emanated in 
the form of an interview from Mr. Frederick 

22 



T. Gates. President of the "General Education 
Board :" 

"The work of sprearting the study and application 
of agricultural Improvements in three or four of the 
Southern States, which the Board began when the 
first $1,000,UOO was received from Mr. Rocliefeller," 
said Mr. Gates, "can now be enlarged, so that In- 
formation about better farming methods can be 
spread throughout the entire South. Only the in- 
terest of the tirst $1,000,000 could be devoted to thi.s 
agricultural work because of the higher education 
clause in the second or $10,000,000 donation. Where 
the work has been carried on the improvements in 
farming have been so marked that Southern bankers 
will not lend money to men who dcy not follow the 
methods taught by the Board's instructors." 

Of course the statement with reference to 
the conditions on which Southern bankers' lend 
money to farmers is preposterous nonsense, 
hut the object at which that &entence wasi 
aimed can hardly be mistaken. 

In conclusion I ask attention to the follow- 
ing from that ably conducted paper, The New 
York Journal of Commerce, which .says: 

•'A system of giving which has its own rules and 
customs, which is governed by principles of selection 
laid down in the beginning, which ramifies through- 
out the country and embraces especially those smaller 
instutions that are hampered by narrow means, is 
an infinitely more powerful force In the shaping of 
opinion than any single capitalist who makes sepa- 
rate and often unconditional gifts to be controlled 
and invested by the Institutions themeselves could 
ever .be. As a mechanism for controlling academic 
opinion there has, perhaps, never been anything in 
the history of education that would compare with 
the Board system of subsidizing learning." 

23 



For one 1 venture to express the wish that 
the fewest number of our Southern colleges 
will ever he captured and controlled by this 
"General Education Board." We can have 
good colleges, though they be poor ; for there 
always have been, and there always will be, 
heroic men in the South who will sacrifice 
themselves to this high interest. But we 
can make nothing but slaves and slavery out 
of colleges which have ceased to be free, how- 
ever rich they may hecome. 

Moreover, we owe something to our ances- 
tors, who founded and maintained our older in- 
stitutions of learning. We have no right to 
bind up the oflerings which they laid upon 
the altar of higher education in the enslavirg 
conditions pre.scribed by the Rockefeller Board 
for institutions to which it grants its humil- 
iating doles. 

dn another communication I will undertake 
to show how this Board is interlaced with 
other bodies and associations, and I will en- 
deavor to make manifest that its connection^ 
do not diminish, but do rather increase the 
perils arising from it. The movement to con- 
trol the higher education of the nation, espe- 
cially the South, is far advanced and has more 
than one corporation to further its ends. Ami 
they have millions back of them; but they 
can do nothing with their millions if the 
people awake to what i^ on hand and refuse 
to be bought. 



24 



THE ACTIVE ALLIES AND ULTIMATE AIMS 
OF 'THE GENERAL EDUCATION BOARD." 

Among the very extensive powers granted 
to the "'General Education Board" by its 
charter is the power "to aid, co-operate with. 
or endow associations or other corporation.*^ 
engaged in educational work within the Unit- 
ed States of America, or to donate to any such 
association or corporation any money or mon- 
eys" which at any time may be held by the 
Board. This gives it the power to do through 
others any thing which for any reason it might 
not find it convenient to do directly in its 
own name. 

This provision was doubtless inserted in the 
charter to enable It to assist and use certain 
allied bodies already in existence and closely 
connected with it in history, purpose and per- 
tonal compostion; and to subsidize other bo- 
dies also, as occasion may require. 

Very intimately related to the "General 
Education Board" is a rather Indefinite body 
called the "Conference for Education in the 
South,'' which body however, can not be called 
a "Conference" in the strictest sense of the 
word; for In its proceedings there is usually 
small room for conferring, dn its annual ses- 
sions it is mainly occupied with the hearing 
of addresses by selected speakers on specific 
topics in the fulfillment of a fixed programme, 
which in the very nature of the case excludes 
anything akin to free conference, and brings 

25 



forward only what is desired by tlae pro- 
gramme-malfers. This "Conference" (if it may toe 
called such by courtesy) has passed through 
a process of development since its first ses- 
sion at Capon Springs in 1898. It was then 
composed of thirty-four members, twenty of 
whom were ministers of the gospel, and it 
was called "The Conference for Christian 
Education in the South," being concerned pri- 
marily for the advancement of the mission 
schools of certain Northern Churches for the 
education of the negroes in the Southern 
states. At its second session the word 
"Christian" was dropped from the name, and 
it was called thereafter "The Conference for 
Education in the South," and its scope waa 
enlarged to take hold of education for all 
races in the South. It began to roasider South 
ern education as a national proiblem at that 
time. At that session or the one next follow- 
ing, Mr. Wdlliam H. Baldwin, Jr., suggested- a 
General Board for the strengthening of Hamp- 
ton and Tuskegee Institutes for the education 
of negroes. This seems to have been the first 
suggestion of a "General Education Board," 
when what is now called "The General Edu- 
cation Board" was organized, Mr. Baldwin 
was elected as its first president. Mr. Bald- 
win advocated also government aid for the 
education of the negroes through the medium 
of the General Board, and at its next session 
"The Conference for Education in the South" 
adopted a resolution calling upon the Federal 

26 



goveiTiment to assist the Southern states In 
the wo'Fk of educating the negroes and the 
"poorer whites" of the South. In those early 
sessions of the Conference sucli men as Wil- 
iam L. Wilson, eagerly desiring to do every- 
thing possible for the education of our people, 
were present, and that very able and incor- 
ruptible statesmen opposed the resolution 
concerning Federal aid to education, which 
was in effect a proposal to revive the old 
"Blair Bill." On. account of Mr. Wilson's op- 
position to it, the resolution was reconsidered 
and referred to an executive committee, 
which has never reported favoi-ably or unfa- 
vorably upon it. 

Out of the "Conference for Education in the 
South" has emerged also what is called "The 
Southern Board of Education," and "the Con^ 
ference" may be regarded as the popular as- 
sembly through which it is sought to make 
sentiment in furtherance of the two "Boards" 
which have thus is=^ued from it, — "The Gener- 
al Education Board" and 'The Southern Ed- 
ucation Board." 

The co-operation of these two Boards was 
insured at the first by the appointment of 
seven men to membership in both, and at this 
time the treasurer of both Boards is the same 
man, and four members of the "General 
Board" are memhers of the "Southern Edu- 
cation Board," and Mr. Robert C. Ogden. who 
is the president of the "Conference for Bduca^ 
tion in the South," is chairman of the "South- 

27 



ern Board of Bclucation" and also an influen- 
tial member of the "General Eldiication 
Board." 

The work of the "Southern Bkiucation 
Board" is that of a propaganda to influence 
public opinion and to influence legislation witli 
reference to the public school systems of the 
several states. The object of the "General Edu- 
caton Board," as published, is "to promote ed- 
ucation in the United States without distinc- 
tion of race, sex, or creed, and especially to 
pi'omote, systematize, and make effective va- 
lious forms of educational benevolence." 'The 
General Education Board" is the heavy weight 
among these allied bodies; for it has the 
power of the purse with all that fact implies. 
It can make appropi*iations for the "Confer- 
ence for education in the South" and for "The 
Southeni Education Board." and has done so: 
but they have nothing to give to it except the 
aid of the propaganda which they constitute. 
This return for the Board's help, however, 
may mean very much on occasion. The 
names of leading educators of the South 
among the officers of these bodies, .and the 
presence of other Southern leaders at the Con- 
ferences and on its programmes, might go a 
long way to forestall criticism and allay dis- 
trust while the "General Education Board" Is 
advancing its plans to "determine the charac- 
ter of American education." 

It is known also that the officers of "The 
General Education Board" and the officers of 

2S 



"The Carnegie Foundation for the Advance- 
ment of teaching co-operate with a very 
good understanding hetween them. Mr. Car- 
negie is now a member of the "General Edu- 
cation Board," and the comment of Mr. Rock- 
efeller on the fact of Mr. Carnegie's entrance 
into the Board is strikingly suggestive both as 
to the idea underlying "The General Educa- 
tion Board'' which is endowed with the oil 
magnate's gifts amounting to $43,00'0,00'0, and 
the expected alliance and co-operation of the 
"Carnegie Foundation" which rests on some 
$15,00'0;00'0 of Mr. Carnegie's money. Mr. 
Rockefeller said,, "If a combination to do bus- 
iness is effective in saving waste and in get- 
ting better results, why is not combination 
far more important in philanthropic work? 
The general idea of co-operation in giving 
for education, I have felt scored a real step 
in advance when Mr. Andrew Carnegie con- 
sented to become a member of the "General 
Education Board." 

The country knows what Mr. Rockefeller 
means by "a comhination to do business. " In 
the Standard 0>il Co.'s dialect that phrase 
has meant to destroy all others engaged in the 
oil 'business, and then do as you please with 
the oil market. Shall we have that sort of 
metliod in educations. Dr. Washington Glad- 
den considers Standard Oil money tainted. 
Shall we have tainted education a''so? 

"The General Education Board refuses to 
make gifts to State educational institutions 
29 



except in the matter of professors of secondary 
education in certain state universities, the 
main function of such professors being not sio 
much with the state universities as vrith high 
schools in varous parts of the, several states. 
This fact sufficiently evinces the aim and 
clearly foreshadows the ultimate results of 
the efforts of the "General Education Board," 
in so far as State universities are concerned. 
The Board also conducts its system of agricul- 
tural lectures in some sort of quasi-relation to 
State schools. Beyond these two small items, 
no gifts of "The General Education Board'" 
are "intended to be given to State education- 
al institutions." 

But they do not expect to be limited to the 
the millions of these two magnates of the 
steel and oil trusts, They expect millions 
more. Did not Mr. Rockefeller invite others 
to join them when he said, "The general idea 
of co-operation in giving for education scores 
a real step in advance when Mr. Andrew Car- 
negie consented to become a member of the 
General Education Boards." Was there not 
here a sly hint to philanthropists? The hint 
might be expressed thus, "Mr. Carnegie and 1 
have combined in the work of giving to edu- 
cation. Now, if anybody else in the United 
States is disposed to give to educational insti- 
tutions and wishes to put his money where it 
will do the most good, let all such persons 
join our educational combination." What is 
the expressed object of the "General Educa- 

30 



cation Board?" Is it not "for the receipt and 
disbursement of money for. educational pur- 
poses?" Mr. Robert C. O^den in May, 1902, 
discussing the "Conference for Education in 
the South," the "Southern Education Board.* 
and the "General Education Board", together, 
5aid, "But a million dollars for that purpose! 
Why, it is a mere triflle! A hundred millions 
could be used, and a hundred millions will be 
used before the work is done." Whether he 
was just prophesying in general, or speaking 
concerning purposes then in the formative and 
unpublished condition, but of which he had 
knowledge, I do not surmise. I am sure, how- 
ever, that Mr. Rockefeller and his Board ex- 
pect to influence other gifts to higher edu- 
cation, as well as to expend where they may ' 
choose the income from the huge fund 
which is now in their own control. In 1904 
Mr Ogden said "it is already quite important 
to every worthy institution seeking private 
aid to be registered in the office of th.e Gen- 
eral Education Board." TTie natural Inference 
from this is that the Board's "little coloured 
pins" will determine even "private aid," as 
well as its own gifts to a college, according as 
that college may or may not be "registered 
in the office of the Board." Can any one over>- 
state the significance of such a menacing inti- 
mation? 

And let us recall again what the Outlook 
said about the ability of the Board to control 
college funds which have been given by others 
31 



in the past. The , Outlook said, "The funds it 
holds represents only a fraction of the amounts 
which it will really control; by giving a sum 
to an institution on condtion that the institu- 
tion raise an equal or greater amount, it will 
be able to direct much larger amounts than 
it possesses." 

Think of wbat is evidently proposed ! To 
direct its own funds, to "■control" funds given 
in the past, and to dominate funds that may 
yet be .raised! Here is dominion over the of- 
ferings of the dead and the gifts of the living, 
authority over the donations and bequests of 
the past, the present and the future ! Truly 
said the Outlook. "Its power will be enor- 
mous; it seems as if it might be able to deter- 
mine the character of American education." 

Let us not imagine that the "General Edu- 
cation Board" will stop with controlling the 
colleges. Through its allied body "The 
Southern Education Board" it seeks to in- 
fluence public opinion and direct legislation 
concerning the common schools. With its 
professorship of secondary education, tacked 
on the State universities, it will project its 
influence into the high schools of the country. 
With its agricultural lectureships it will lay 
hold of the farmers. Then after a time, when 
its "Conferences for Education in the South," 
together with its other schemes of propagan- 
dism, have done their work, we may reasona- 
bly expect to see the old "Blair Bill" for Fed- 
eral aid to education revived, — the thing that 

32 



the lamented William L. Wilson drove to cov- 
er so soon as it showed its head in one of 
the earlier and less rigidly programmed "Con- 
ferences." 

While the "General Education BoariV de- 
clines to nmke gifts to State colleges, Mr. 
Carnegie's "Foundation" equally refuses its 
teachers pensions to^ the faculties of colleges 
and universities under denominational control. 
As an "educational ag-ency" its president pro- 
•claims that "its policy is not to pass on the 
merits of individuals but of colleges." It 1;3 
manifest that by picking certain institutions 
whose professors may receive pensions from 
the "Oarnegie Foundation" it will give great 
advantage to the accepted colleges over the 
rejei'ted institutions, and the only way of es- 
cape for the institutions not on its list of ac- 
cepted institutions will be to revise their char- 
ters and get rid of control by thi churc'be > 
which founded them or to make a square 
fight for their lives. Some colleges have beeii 
willing to deny the church parentage which 
gave them birth in order to get at Mr. Car- 
negie's fund. For example, Bowdoin crllege. 
in Maine, received years ago the endowment 
of one of its professorships on condition thar 
the fund should be forfeited to another inst'- 
tution whenever a majority of the board of 
overseers ceased to be in sympathy wi h the 
Orthodox Congregational Church, and for this 
cause the authorities of the Carnegie Founda* 
tion held that Bowdoin was ineligible for a 



place on the Carnegie pension roll. And Bow- 
doin has forfeited the endowment given by 
former friends in order to get a chance at 
pensions for its professors from the " Carne- 
gie Foundation." Other colleges may follow 
in such a course. Still others, which will not 
renounce their faith, may have their profes- 
sors carried off to accejJted colleges by the 
temptation of a pension in their old age. So 
disestablisliment may be the fate of some in- 
titutions. and death, perhaps, the fate of 
others. 

Of course, the "General Education Board's" 
denial of its gifts to state educational institu- 
tions will work a disadvantage to them some- 
what like that which the "Carnegie Founda- 
tion" lays on church schools, and some of the 
State schools may be led to seek disestablish- 
ment and disconnection from all state control 
in order to get the aid of "Tbe General Board," 
as' Bowdoin sun-endered church connection to 
get on the "Carnegie Foundation." 

Suppose now, that eventually, after many 
colleges have died and others have been 
w]-ested from any responsibility to state or 
church, "The General Education Board" and 
the "Carnegie Foundation" should unite on a 
"chain of colleges across the continent" in- 
dependent of all authority or influenece, ex- 
cept the control and influence of those two 
corporations endowed with the millions of 
Rockefeller and Carnegie; what then would 



be the "character of American education"' as 
tlius "determined?" 

After Federal aid to education Is secured, 
we may expect to see started a movement to 
make the National Commissioner of Education 
a cabinet officer. Mr. Ogden, one of the lead- 
ing spirits in all this movement. — who is a 
member of the "General Education Board.'- 
chairman of the "Southern Education Board,"' 
and for many years president of "The Con- 
ference for Education in the South." and the 
only man who is a member of all these three 
bodies, — favors Federal aid to education in the 
South. 

Of course, with Federal aid we must sub- 
mit to Federal .supervision, and with that sub- 
jection accepted, why not liaise the Bureau of 
Education at Washington to an executive de- 
partment and make the Commissioner of Ed- 
ucation a cabinet officer? Probably in such 
an event "The General Education Board," with 
its multiplied millions and national following, 
would have something to say about who should 
be chosen for the position of Secretary of Eld- 
ucation. It could then fulfill the Out- 
look's forecast when that periodical said of 
this "General Education Board," "It can do 
in many ways what the government does for 
education in France and Germany." 

"The General Education Board" in the final 
outcome may adopt the suggestion of Mr. 
Charles A. Gardiner, of New York, which is 
really the logical conclusion from the premise 

35 



of Federal aid to education. He advocates 
endowing "Tthe National Bureau of Education 
with, supervisory powers so that it can make 
education compulsory, fix the courses of study, 
and direct instruction in any channel — indus- 
trial, intellectual, moral, or religious — that the 
citizenship of any locality may particularly 
require." 

Then, too, the school question in California 
with reference to the Japanese, as well ais 
that of the South with reference to its race 
question, could be dealt with nationally — which 
I dare say many of the educational agitators, 
who look at the South as missionary ground 
calling for their altruistic evangelism, would 
be glad to see. 

(By the way the "General Education Board'" 
has reason to look after that Japanese issue 
in California; for in the publish©d lists of its 
securities, as reported to the Department oi: 
the Interior at Washington under the require- 
ment of its Federal charter, it appears that 
the Board holds over $5O'0,O'00 of "Imperial 
Japanese Government Bonds." In that list of 
securities also appears over $4,500,000 of the 
bonds of the 'Steel Trust"'' and other interest- 
ing stocks and 'bonds.) 

It is manifest that there is a clearly defined 
purpose to centralize the educational work 
of the country under a huge "educational sys- 
tem," of which "The General Education 
Board" will be both the author and the fin- 
isher. Such a scheme is full of perils to the 

36 



nation, and especially to the South, a section 
upon which the gaze of this Board is fixed as 
upon a helpless minor needing its guidance or 
a benighted sinner needing its missionary ef- 
forts. It has been by some considered unfor- 
• lunate, (to state the case mildly) that Mr. 
Rockefeller's "Standard Oil Company" controls 
the character and cost of the light for the 
poor man's body ; but that is as nothing com- 
pared with an effort to control the education 
of the country, which is the light for the 
minds of both present and future genera- 
tions. 

We have already concentrated wealth and 
a tendency to centralize the government. It 
now education be centralized also, and direct- 
ed by a coterie of fifteen men called a "General 
Education Board." we may prepai-e to see the 
entire character of the American civilization, 
as well as the character of American educa- 
tion, determined for us by our masters, the 
trust magnates and their followers. They may 
consider that it is all for our good, and that 
they are vei-y wise and benevolent masters, bet- 
ter a^ble to dii-ect and control the American peo- 
ple than are the people themselves; ibut oner 
may be permitted yet to doubt that sucli Is 
the case without laying one's self liable to 
indictment for treason. 

But some will say, "What are we going to 
do about it? The thing is already done. Tell 
us how to make the best of a bad situation, 
whicb has developed before we knew it, and 

37 



in which we seem to be helplessly and hope- 
lessly involved." 

Of that phase of the subject I will speak In 
my next communication. For the present it 
is enough, to say our case is not hopeless, un- 
less our colleges can be bought with a mendi- 
can'ts dole and our people can be misled by 
"Conference" declamations and dazzling prom- 
ises of po'ssible donations from the office in 
New York in which "the little coloured pins" 
mark the rise or fall, the life or death of col- 
leges according as they please or displease the 
executive officers of the General Executive 
Board. 

WHAT CAN BE DOlNE AND WILL BE 

DONE 

The adversities which our Southern colleges 
suffered during the war and the reverses they 
met during desolating years oi the pe- 
riod of reconstruction have put our institu- 
tions of learning relatively far behind those 
of other sections in the matter of financial 
strength. The South has, therefore, many of 
the smaller institutions of the country which 
are hampered (by narrow means, and for this 
cause our colleges and universities can ibe 
more easily dominated by the methods and 
gifts of "The General Education Board." Such 
universities as Harvard and Yale can not be 
so easily tempted with promised gifts because 
they ai'e already very rich. 

But while such is the case with our insti- 
ls 



tutions of learning, their condition is not so 
nearly hopeless as to justify despair concern- 
ing tliem, or to excuse a mendicant attitude 
towards this "General Education Board'' to 
save them. They are quite able to maintain 
themselves in an attitude of serene independ- 
ence of "The General Education Board," "tho 
Carnegie Foundation.'" and all their allien. 

In the South the colleges and universities 
for wliite students, not to mention our seco.:- 
dary schools and the colleges for negroes, are 
worth above $36,000,000. This large sum has 
been accumulated in the main since the war, 
and it has come from the contributions made 
by our own people struggling with their pov- 
erty, and from the gifts of such noble men as 
Geo. I. Seney and others of like mind, who 
came to our help without attaching humiliat 
ing conditions to their generous donations, or 
seeking to dominate our institutions by the 
methods of their giving. We can not hope to 
receive from this "General Education Board' 
any amount comparable with -what wi now 
have' in our own right and which we aLminis- 
ter without impertinent direction froji with- 
out. Why should we allow the smaller in- 
vestment of "The General Education Board" 
to determine the direction of the larger 
amount which we already have? Shall a 
minority stock-hoUler assume airs of superi- 
ority and undertake to to tell us what course 
shall be followed in the administration of our 
educational funds? Shall we not say to one 

?>9 



who approaches us with a little wad of money 
and a big amount of authority, "Your money 
perish with you. We are abundantly able 
to take care of our own affairs?" 

The whole attitude of "The General Edu- 
cation Board" towards the authorities of our 
colleges and universities is one of distrust. 
Trustees and faculties are not to toe trusted 
"to insure the ibest application of money," and 
hence the Board's tompiex conditions anS 
complicated requirements aifixed to its gifts. 
They can not be trusted so much as to deter- 
mine the final locations upon which colleges ■ 
are to stand; the Board is to "look over the 
whole territory or the nation" and settle 
where institutions shall live and where oth- 
ers shall die. These fifteen sages who are its 
managers, running over the lines described by 
"the little coloured pins" in the Board's office 
in New York, it is assumed will know better' 
what should be done in this matter than all 
the boards of trustees and other college au- 
thorities in the land. They have also made up 
their unerring minds to the effect that the 
imparting of theological imstruction in col- 
leges is to be discouraged, discounted, and dis- 
credited, and that no money furnished by the 
Board, or raised under the stimulation of Its 
conditional gifts, shall be used for any such 
unworthy purpose. Such an assumption of 
superior wisdom is positively sublime if it 
were not ridiculous. 

That representatives of Southern colleges 

40 



are looked upon as a mendicant lot lias been 
but thinly concealed by the leading spirits in 
this movement. Perhaps some of our college 
men have justified by their posture the depre- 
ciatory view entertained concerning them by 
their Northern patrons. One of the ardent 
supporters of this educational movement thus 
described some who flocked to the meeting of 
"The Conference for Education in the South'" 
which met at Athens, Ga., a few years ago : 

"Unfortunately for Southern repuation for good 
breeding, there was at the Athens Conference, 
for example, a swarm of educational and institu- 
tional mendicants who seemed to imagine that 
every Northern man was a millionaire philanthrop- 
ist waiting to be informed about the pressing needs 
of the South. They disgraced themselves at the 
time." 

If thei-e were at Athens any consideraible 
number of men who thus disgraced our sec- 
tion, the fact is a symptom of a disease among 
our- educational authorities which can not be 
cauterized and cured too quickly. What must, 
be the degrading influence upon the students 
of our colleges if teachers and trustees thu.^ 
prostrate themselves at the feet of superc:- 
lious wealth and arrogant opulence? No 
degree of poverty can excuse such mendican- 
cy. We do not need money for our colleges 
so badly that we can descend to such methods 
to obtain it. 

In truth we do not need to beg anybody to 
pay for the education of our sons and daugh- 
ters. We are quite able to attend to that 
matter ourselves. We have not as many rich 

41 



men and women among us as other sections 
have; but we have some people of means ana 
they owe it to themselves and to their sec- 
tion to take the lead in endowing and equip, 
ping our colleges so as to enable them to do 
their work well without coming under obli- 
gations to strangers, il would net have our 
peoiple of wealth to do all that is needed; it 
is not best for the freedom and independei.ce 
of a college to come under too heavy obliga- 
tions to any one man or woman. If the late 
Jay Gould had founded or endowed a college 
it would have been next to impossible to have 
warned successfully the students of such au 
institution against the evils of stock-gambling, 
just as the institutions which draw their sup- 
port from the funds of "General Education 
Board'' will be impotent to condemn effective- 
ly the iniquities of the Standard Oil Com-pa- 
ny or the enormities of the protective tariff 
from which the Steel Trust has drawn its ' 
countless millions. In the case of Prof. Bemis 
at the University of Chicago a few years ago 
the country had a sample case of what be- 
comes of a professor of political economy 
whose teaching fails to agree with the views 
and interest of the man who founds and 
maintains a college all by himself. We want 
no such institution in the South. We want 
our colleges to be dependent upon the people 
whom they serve, and under no cammanding 
obligation to any one man however wise and 
virtuous he may be. 

42 



While. therefoiH', our rich men and women 
must lead in the work of endowing and equip- 
ping our institutions of higher learning, the 
ibulk of the great work must be accomplished 
by the generous co-operation of all the peo- 
ple. Our people of moderate means by a 
multitude of smaller gifts must follow the 
lead of our wealthier people with their larger 
donations in putting our colleges heyond want 
and beyond the temptation to mendicant 
gubfjeetion to the jamhitious tGreneral Edu- 
cation Board" striving to "determine the 
character of American education." 

iln truth it would not be best for our col- 
leges to grow in wealth faster than the peo- 
ple whom they are set to serve. If one o; 
our institutions should be made suddenly as 
rich as Harvard or Yale the scale of living 
at such a college would so quickly rise as 
that its benefits would be put beyond the reach 
' of most of the people among us who seek 
college training for their sons. Free tuition 
would not offset the rise in the price of 
board and the increased social expense which 
would instantly spring from suich sudden en- 
richment. Our colleges need help and much 
lielp, but they do not need to get above our 
people. 

In addition to all these considerations must 
be enumerated another asset which we haVe 
by which our case is greatly relieved. We 
have self-sacrificing educators among us upon 
whom we may rely with confidence to spurn 

43 



all seductions whioli lead in the .direction of 
enslaving our institutions of learning to the 
dictatorial domination of "The General Edu- 
cation Board." They can not be bought. Many 
of them are in the colleges of the churches 
which the methods of both "The General Ea- 
ucation Board" and the "Carnegie Founda- 
tion" tend to depreciate and discredit. Here 
is a force which millions can neither buy nor 
vanquish. 

The New York Commercial of March 8th, 
in commenting on the ineffectual effort or 
the heads of Brown University, Vander.bilt 
University, Kenyon College, and a dozen oth- 
er institutions which were trying to get the 
restrictions of the Carnegie Foundatioai so 
relaxed with reference to denominational dis'- 
abilities as to get on that pension fund, said, 
"It is signifloant that no Catholic-college pres- 
ident is among those who now seek to have 
the denominational restriction ignored." The 
explanation of this significant fact i^ found 
in a note written by the Prefect of Studies of 
St. John's College. Brooklyn, to the Prpsident 
of the 'Carnegie Foundation," in which he 
said : 

"You will not be able to understand how th's in 
stitution is maintained almost without revenue. 
The explanation is the self-sacrlflce of twenty men 
who devote their lives to the work without remun- 
eration. These men do not, as far as I know, expect 
any assistance from the Tarnesrio Foundation.' 
Whether they will be eligible or not will be a matter 
for you to determine. In any case they will prob- 

44 



nbly never arcept any assistance from the Founda- 
tion." 

Certainly the colleges of the Roman Cath- 
olic Church Avill not come under the domin- 
ion of any secular board whatsoever, however 
great may be its proffered gifts or however 
glowing may be its golden promises. Pro- 
testant institutions and the institutions of the 
States should note the basis of the independ- 
ence of Catholic institutions and pluck up 
courage for the contest with the Board which 
seeks to "determine the character of Ameri- 
can education." Their faculties are as rich 
in self-sacrifice as the faculties of Roman 
Catholic colleges, and with such an asset in 
their possession they may bid defiance to all 
©pposition. 

The hope of the countrv at last will bs 
found in the small colleges which the people 
whom they serve support. The over-rich insti- 
tutions, which have become independent of all 
civil and ecclesiastical oversight, are not do- 
ing the best educational work now. and they 
never have done it. The d^nomitiational col- 
lege which these plutocratic toards so depre- 
ciate has done more for the country than all 
the obese and apoplectic institutions which as- 
sume tp look down upon them. Of the seve'^< 
teen presidents of the United States who 
were college men, twelve were g'aduates of 
denominational schools. So were six of tlhe 
eight college men who have been chief justices 
on the Supreme bench of the United States. 
45 



Webster came out of Dartmouth college when 
it was denominational to its core, and Long- 
fellow came out of Bowdoin before that in- 
stitution renounced its faith in order to get 
on the "Carnegie Foundation." Hawthorne, 
Sydney Lanier, John Hay, Elihu Root, John 
C. Calhtiun, Alfred H Colquitt, L, Q. C. 
Lamar, and the present Secretary of State, all 
came from church t-chools. The denom- 
inational coille2:e can sa'"ely compare products 
with the output ef any seculai'ized or subsi- 
dized institution. 

Moreover, the small colleges of both th?) 
States and the Churches' have endowments ii 
the annual gifts of their constituencies which 
the endowments offered by "The Gene-al Bi:l- 
ucation Board" can in no wise equal. Foi- 
example, the Methodists o" -Georeia give Vi 
Emory college annually about $5,000. which , 
is equivalent to the interest on an endoAvmenV 
of $100,0'00. The State of Georgia appropri- 
ates to the University at Athens far more than 
this. Why should there gift? of ou^ own 
people be subjected to the domination of any 
outside authority Why should our educators 
stand like mendicants with hats in hand foi- 
small gifts from alien sources when they have 
such constituencies behind them. Why should 
we despair of our coIlee:es. and ignobly but- 
render our educational independence and 
academic freedom fo^ a conditional gift from 
the "General Education Board" or a profes- 
sor's pension from t^e "Carnegie Founda- 

4(5 



tion?" Why should we barter away our 
birthright for a mess of potage from the prea- 
atory trusts? 

We are in no danger unless we can ba 
bought. We are not in desperate .straits un- 
less our people are de?perately mean spirited 
and mendicant. I can net th'.nk so ill of my 
people. Thev are not going to sell out or 
surrender. They are going to take care of 
their own colleges and preserve their ow- 
civilization. They will do thi= at all cost, and 
cost what it may our people are well abl9 to 
pay the bill. 

It is a time for large views and courageous 
self-sacrifl'ce, for fearless fidelity and daring 
generosity. For one I confidently expect our 
people to resent any effort to allure their col- 
leges away from them. They will iboth keep 
their colleges and care for them. Any other 
course woud be unworthy of the traditions of 
the past and would dim all our hopes' of the 
future 

A DANGEROUS TENDENCY. 

(New Orleans Times-Democrat.) 

It is to hoped that the statement given out 
in Atlanta by 'Bishop Candler of the Methodist 
Church, South, with regard to the General 
Education Board, will provoke a general dis» 
cussion of the Board, its purposes and the 
fruits of the system under which it works. 
Tlie opinions voiced by the distinguished 

47 



Methodist leader are by no means new. Crit- 
icisms of like tenor have been offered beiore 
now by others. But they gain weight ana 
challenge a wider attention by .his champion' 
ship, and the movement under attack is one 
of those which, in our opinion, should be care. 
fuly studied and closely watched, since its pos- 
sibilities for evil, if improperly influenced oi' 
directed, must be conceded to be immense. 

Bishop Candler bases his objection to the 
system primarily upon principle. "It is not 
safe," he contends, "for the educational insti- 
tutions of the country to be under the virtual 
domination of fifteen men, however pure they 
may imagine their intentions to be. It is such 
a concentration of power in the matter of the 
highest interest of the nation as no fllteeii 
men, however wise and virtuous, can be 
trusted to exercise without abusinig it for th^ 
furtherance of their own views and interests.. 
If a college s'eeks and obtains these gratui- 
ties, with the Rockefeller strings to them. Ir 
must consent to be guided by the rein witn 
which these fifteen men will drive it." 

The case is here plainly stated. The fund 
which the General Education Board adminis- 
ters is largely provided by men whose interesr 
in shaping public opinion upon certain mat- 
ters of vital concern to society and to the 
state is very great. Whether their philan- 
thropy serves as a cloak to attain the ends 
desired, or whether the plan is unselfishly 
conceived and the sinister influence uncon- 

48 



sciously exerted, the effect is like to be the 
same in the end. The gifts are hedged aboiii 
by restnctions and conditions, with tue Edu- 
cation Board to name them and to see that 
they are complied with. Every college whicn 
shares in the largess poses as a suppliant, in 
a sense. Not only is its policy partially di- 
rected by the Board, but it is additionally 
influenced, wittingly or unwittingly, by the 
desires of its benefactors. The atmosphere 
of classroom and campus is dangerously sub- 
ject to taint ; the habits of thought of its stu- 
dents may with comparative ease be given a 
twist not easily corrected. Whether the pow- 
erful engine thus created is now put to sin- 
ister uses or not, the temptation to employ it 
is ever present, and must inevitably grow 
stronger as the system gathers strength and 
force. 

Here in the South the temptation of the 
colleges to seek the conditional gratuities is 
great because the funds available for educa- 
tion are small and the need of more abundant 
educational facilities is pressing. In stinig- 
gling schools, where the problem of mainten- 
ance is difficult, the offer of aid in philan- 
thropic guise is naturally attractive. But no 
college that is worthy to live can afford to 
surrender its independence nor submit its pol- 
icies to the guidance of any oligarchy which 
draws its authority and owes its existence to 
a few excessively rich men who have, after 
all, a very heavy and very practical stake in 

49 



the venture. If through this agency the 
American colleges, or the Southern colleges 
can be drawn under the control or rendered 
subject to the influence of the rich men wlio 
support the General Eiducation Board, it will 
be only a question of time when that iii- 
fluence may be wrongly exerted,, to the deep 
and lasting injury of the American peoplfa. 
The Times. Democrat joins Bishop Candler in 
the hope that "the fewest number of oui- 
Southern colleges" will ever be "so captured 
and controlled." ■- 

SUBSIDIZING LEARNING TO CONTROL 
ACADEMIC OPINION. 

(From The New York Journal of Commerce.) 
"A system of giving which has its own rules 
and customs, which is governed iby principles 
of selection laid down in the beginning, whch 
ramifies throughout the country and embraces 
especially those smaller institutions that are 
hampered by narrow means, is an infinitely 
more powerful force in the shaping of opinion 
than any single capitalist who makes separate 
and often unconditional gifts to be controlled 
and invested by the institutions themselves 
could ever be. As a mechanism for controll- 
ing academic opinion, there has perhaps never 
been anything in the history of education that 
would compare with the hoard system of sub- 
sidizing learning.' 

"Gifts to education are like campaign con- 
tributions in that they are best made in rela- 
50 



lively small amounts and Ironi many sources. 
Under such circumstances they are likely to 
leave the recipients in position to choose their 
own course in matters of opinion and teach- 
ing. 11 they must be large, it requires greater 
force of character to maintain independence 
of thought and action. Such freedom has 
been lacking in too many quarters. The spec- 
tacle of a university president preaching the 
maintenance of some of the worst abuses of 
capitalism and another meekly bowing the 
knee to receive the money offered by those 
for whose acts he had but lately suiggesteu 
social ostracism as a penalty is not edifying. 
Instances can be given in abundance where 
the mere prospect of an immediate gift has 
changed the whole current of a college admin- 
istrator's thought and made him trim his sails 
on an entirely new tack to catch the favoring 
breezes of prosperity. The craze and compe- 
tition for large numbers of students has great- 
ly crippled those who would uphold the older 
traditions of independent economic thinking. 
Increasing numbers mean increasing expense 
in college administration and lead to growing 
dependence on wealth of doubtful origin. 
This, among other reasons, is ground for 
thinking the enormous benefactions of the 
past few years, whether as pensions, endow- 
ments or annual gifts to colleges, may put our 
academic thinkers into a moral strait-jackeL 
at the same time that they are freed from the 
cramping influences of limited ifieans." 

51 



"A STEP TOWARD THE GREATEST EVIL 

THAT COULD BE INFLICTED ON THE 

COUNTRY." 

(Manufacturers Record, Baltimore, Md.) 
The open combination of Mr. Carnegie and 
Mr. Rockefeller in an "ed^ucational" eater- 
prise, thus representing an aggregation oi 
$60,000, or $70,000,000, which according to 
the same argument of the Outlook applied 
to one phase of it, "represent only a fraction 
of the amounts which it will really control." 
is a "real step in advance," as Mr. Rockefeller 
styles it. But it is a step in advance towarii 
the greatest evil that could he inflicted upon 
the country. Unchecked, it will result in an 
education that will train coming generation.s 
away from basic principles of American life 
and Clippie them in character. 

Control, through possession of the millons 
massed in the Educational Trust, of two or 
three or four times as many millions of dollars 
in education makes possible control of the ma- 
chinery and the methods of education. It 
makes it possible for the central controlling 
body to determine the whole character of 
American education, the text-books to be 
used, the aims to be emphasized. Operating 
through State, denominational, and indivdual 
systems of sichools and colleges, it gives the 
financial controller power to impose upon its 
■beneficiaries its own views, good or bad, and 
thereby to dominate public opinion in social. 

52 



economic, and political mailers. For. it would 
dominate the source of public opinion, the 
educational system of the country. Only a 
band of angels never suibject to the weakness- 
es of human nature would be fit to exercise 
such power wisely. Angels would be strong 
enough to resist the temptation to exercise it 
at all. 

DEMORALIZING DEPENDENCE. 
(From The Springfield Republican.) 
"There are those who still hold the idea 
that but for these great individual fortunes 
and their benefactions society would ibe woree 
off than it is in educational and philanthropic 
work. Such a theory is wholly untenable — ■ 
that the people generally cannot be trusted 
properly to appreciate the importance of edu- 
cation and other effox-t for the elevation of 
the race and the amelioration of the general 
conditions of living, or to contribute adequate- 
ly to their support, it is only true that the 
Iteople will be laggard in sunport of such ef- 
forts when a comparatively few towering for- 
tunes exist, .'vble and willing to be leaned on 
for these needs. Then we may expect com- 
munities and institutions to develop a mendi- 
cant attitude and turn from self-help to 'help 
from beyond which ilows down as if from 
some superior source that is to be held in 
worshipful consideration. How socially de- 
moralizing this must be no one can fail to 



53 



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